Buying A Home? Don't Panic! with John Laforme

Comedian Matt Neal Talks About His Crazy Home Buying Experience In Todays Market!

February 05, 2022 John Laforme / Matt Neal Episode 16
Buying A Home? Don't Panic! with John Laforme
Comedian Matt Neal Talks About His Crazy Home Buying Experience In Todays Market!
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Show Notes Transcript

Matt Neal, The host of his own podcast Peace Of Chaos  Joins John Laforme for an action packed episode covering several topics like Matt's home inspection experience with john and his bad experience's during his real estate transaction. After looking at 30 homes before finding the right one, Matt explains in detail the good the bad and the ugly of buying a home in todays real estate market.

Matt Neal: Peace Of Chaos Link To Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peace-of-chaos-a-podcast-by-matt-neal/id1494040772

Matt also talks about his carrier as a comedian before the pandemic hit sharing stories about becoming a comic and his experience's with other comics like Joe Rogan, Brad Willians, Craig Shoemaker and Joey 'CoCo' Diaz. John shares with Matt that he was Joe Rogans neighbor and shares a good story about his experience with Joe. John also inspected Brad Williams house a few years ago and also knows Joey Diaz from Jui-Jitsu and Muay Thai classes, Yes Joey Diaz can kick some ass LOL!

Thank you to our Episode Sponsor Guitar Ninjas
https://www.guitarninjas.com/

John Laforme
CREIA Certified Home Inspector
Home Inspection Authority LLC
https://www.homeinspectionauthority.com/

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John Laforme:

Buying a home? Don't panic. Just listen to the rest of this podcast Welcome to Home Inspection authority straight talk podcast with me, John laforme. Are you a homebuyer, a realtor, or maybe a home inspector? If you are, then this podcast is definitely for you. So let's get right into some straight talk about home inspections. So Matt, first question I have is, would you were you referred to me by your realtor? Or did you find me You came

Matt Neal:

with the realtor? Yeah, I was like, we're gonna we're gonna use this guy. Yeah, package deal. All right, I was part of a package deal. I had no idea.

John Laforme:

So anyway,

Matt Neal:

they may have said that, here's a couple to choose from. I actually I think they said there's a couple to choose from this guy's you know, this price, but he's really this or right for in your case, they were like, This guy's super thorough, might be a little bit more expensive. But like, otherwise you're paying to people or, you know, doing other stuff. So it was kind of like a right. You were on the the preferred list or, or whatever.

John Laforme:

I don't think I'm on that list anymore. But we'll get to that. Yeah. So you know, what I wanted to talk to you about is, you know, were you is it? Was that your first home you're buying or is that?

Matt Neal:

No, sadly, it was my third? That was it there. Yeah, yeah. But I guess the easiest way to say it is I hate real estate. Like I, I resent it in a way. Yeah, really? You can be direct? Yeah, like, I have to. It's something I don't enjoy. And it's like, it feels like a rigged game. And I think that's kind of why I why I started talking to you because I was like, Look, man, you're the only one that's even close to on my side in this transaction. Right? Exactly. You're literally the only one that has my best interests at heart in all of the transaction, all the middlemen all the loan people, all the realtors on both sides. They have their own reasons for their own agenda, their own agenda, and it's all slanted against me. So I know it's a rigged game, and I hate it. So I don't like it at all. I agree with you. So like, if I wanted to dive deep and become a guru and start buying homes, obviously there's money in it like I get it, but I just hate every second of it. So yeah, it was my third one. But I could say that like I didn't I put a lot of trust in the people that were assigned to me to do things in buying homes. I was helped buying my first one with the company that moved me here, right. So I put a lot of trust in people who that they loved it. Yeah, so I trust will you're going to do a good job then. Right? Like, right and yeah, and bought my first home here it was during a big high swing. The 10 year high swing so the guy I bought it from made out like a fucking bandit.

John Laforme:

Yep. That was probably around 2007. There was

Matt Neal:

it was before that. It was a smaller version of what we've seen. Right. Okay. But I didn't I didn't quite pull it all together because it was a small place. And it was a condo kind of thing. And, and I upgraded so much as again, you know, it's like, not really the same thing. But like, all in retrospect, all Monday morning quarterback, I'm like, Man, I feel like I got screwed at every step of the way. Not because I didn't ask. But because there's no incentive to tell me the actual truth about what's going on. Right. And I expect the truth coming from people deal with and there's none of it in real estate like no offense to real estate people you're not incentivized to get me. Like I saw I got a card from a realtor in my neighborhood. That said, guaranteed something along the lines like guaranteed to get you the highest price guaranteed. It's like, Oh, so you don't represent any buyers then? Because that's the worst message. True, right? Like Good point. Like, it's like, okay, well, this is all rigged in a way but then they you get the spiel of like, well, you get what you're comfortable paying at the time and what the market bears I get supply demand shot up. That's why I don't like it because I don't like that stuff. Yeah, I hear you. I don't want to learn it. Yeah. It makes me a victim. Yep. And it makes me make really bad choices. It reminds you all of those things that reminds

John Laforme:

me of when I decide to sell a house I had and Bell Canyon back in when that I sell that back in 2000. Yeah. 2007 just before the big crash happened. Yeah. I made out like a good time to sell it. Yeah, but I enjoy that. Right. I interviewed two realtors. And to represent me, you know? And the first ones like, oh, yeah, I can get this thing sold in 30 days. I'm like, well, it's really not what I'm after. Yeah, not rush. I'm just trying to make out cash out on this investment I made. Yeah. And so Alright, well, just out of curiosity, what price would you commit at? Oh, I'd probably listed for 1.7. Yes. Oh, really? Okay, great. Thanks for coming. Have a nice day. Yeah, get another look. Another person comes by. All right. She looked around, spent a good 3040 minutes looking around a big house. She looked around the whole place. And she comes back and says I'm thinking 2 million. said Yeah, I was thinking 2.1 She goes, That's not too far off. Okay, you're hired? Yeah. So the other guy was a volume guy. Right? He didn't get he didn't give a shit about how much money I got. He just wanted to sell the house. Yeah, his goal was to sell the house only and that was it. Yeah, yeah, I left a bad taste in my mouth. But yeah, I didn't have back then. I didn't have as much experience with relatives as I do now. Yeah. It's because of, you know, home inspection. But yeah,

Matt Neal:

yeah. I mean, I'm almost purposefully naive, because I hate it is probably the best way to put it. And it's a necessary evil, you know, in a lot of ways, and I'd want out of the game. Like, I'm glad I'm out. And I probably made a mistake. That's kind of what how I feel about it. Right. Right. Like, it's like, well,

John Laforme:

so did you have to think about you have home inspections on your other homes? Do

Matt Neal:

you remember that? Yes. Always? Yeah. Yeah. So

John Laforme:

you're good about that. You're you stay on top of that. In other words,

Matt Neal:

I've always gotten it. Yeah. Every time. Okay. Yeah. Because, you know, people don't it was like, Well, yeah, I mean, I think it just it made a lot of sense. You know, it kind of I liken it to like, how great would it be if you had the same service for used cars like that, right? You know, somebody comes in is like, Dude, you don't want to buy this car? Like, like, that would be really helpful. You know? Yeah. Yeah. So it made a lot of sense with the level of investment. You're making it at home. So you see the value in it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, especially because it's in the grand scheme of things. What you're laying out to buy and sell a home at this point of ridiculous administrative bullshit fees for things like the money spent on the home inspector can save you 1000s of dollars down the line, like, like

John Laforme:

my point, no one sees no one sees past my invoice. They're like, why am I proud, much money.

Matt Neal:

The problem is you're dealing like, like I said, I kind of thought this is the only person who's got my best interest objectively, could give a shit about the deal. Like you're looking at it like a machine, this house, this machine, you're going to buy this whole thing. Here's the problem with all the systems in it. And you should know about them today. Like because dude, put people put lipstick on a pig, when you find you start finding like, all the time. Like there's a lot of like social media now with people posting, like these flippers and the stuff that people will do to these houses to make them look good and sell good. And you're like, oh my god, they put you know, with a shelf paper on the floor, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's like, oh my god. So yeah, for the couple 100 bucks, you know, you spend for that service. Yeah, in the grand scheme.

John Laforme:

So our little our little first interaction was, it was interesting. I thought it was going great. I thought the inspection was going good. You were asking me questions. I was answering you as I went, you know, you seem really calm and just chill you just looking around. You're doing your own due diligence, which is good. Yeah. And I was like, I just right out right off the gate, I got a good vibe from you. You know, I'm like, Okay, this guy's just just wants to check out the house. He's not just staring at the wall color. Yeah, he's actually looking at stuff. That's great. So he's probably going to understand what I'm trying to explain stuff to him. Yeah. So I actually pulled up the report just to get some memory on what I might have pointed out to you. So I just want to ask you questions on Yeah, like when I was talking to you about the HVAC? You know, the plenum wasn't sealed. And did you did that freak you out? Or did that just like, Ah, it's probably a normal thing or remember.

Matt Neal:

You know, I have to add that there was a lot of baggage brought to the deal in a lot of ways could we'd be because we had been looking for so long. Okay, we'd seen so much shit. Okay. And I just started to recognize, like, Man are getting a lot of premium money for what this house is actually worth. Like, I recognize I'm buying an upmarket, right basic house. I'm like, Okay, I'm already overpaying. I recognize I'm overpaying right? Get it. It was really hard for me to swallow overpaying and then having to put so much more money into it almost immediately, or very soon after to just be like, Dude, I know it's less money. But that's a rational thought build the whole goddamn thing. Like just the rational thought right there. You're showing you're showing like, okay, not only are you buying a 30 year old home, but you're buying 30 year old H vac system or whatever, it's just like, you know, it's gonna break right, like, so. A 30 year old home that's been completely read Vamped with good work. Yeah, is worth more money. Kinda Sure. Because you don't have to do it because doing the work sucks. takes way longer than you think. And is always more money than you think. So you're just like, alright. Okay, so the H vac systems bad. Okay, next, you know what I mean? Right? And, and I just saw the dollar signs adding up. Because if you found$5,000 worth of problem, that means that when you pull it back, there's $30,000 worth of Prop possible. Yeah, directly underneath it, right. Yeah. And what else breaks? It's like when you fix a car. You fix the transmission on a car. The next thing that blows the engine because now a healthy transmission is blowing it a 20 year old engine. Yeah. Right. And so I just look at it as this whole system. That right, you know, and a lot of a lot of times

John Laforme:

during home inspections, I'll see Oh, everyone gets excited. Oh, there's an upgraded HVAC system. I'm like, Okay, well, let me take a look. I would do a coil brand new 30 year old furnace. Yeah. So you get one wheel. That's really good. And you get one wheel that's really old. That's not going to last you much longer. Not to mention, when you still have a 30 year old system and a house parts of it. Yeah. You still have a 30 year old duct system in most cases, which is no there was zero energy efficiency with that duct system. Yeah, yes. Zero. Doesn't matter how new that that shiny Nest thermostat looks. Yeah, look at my nest. Who gives it up though? Yeah, it's garbage. It's a dinosaur. Yeah. Yeah, it's, I see it a lot. And you know, I don't get excited about stuff until I go through everything and tell my clients well, you know, yeah, yeah, this is new. That's not this is new. That's not you gotta

Matt Neal:

it's a time thing to like duct tape together. Because like, what's acceptable to be like, I know I'm gonna have to replace XY and Z by buying this house. You accept that? Right? You take that on, I get it. But it's also like a time thing like stack all those projects together and it's a year and a half till your house is like, almost where you want it and probably longer right, like putting in a kitchen like Yeah. Have you ever put in a kitchen? I have it's silly. I'm saying like somebody that says oh, we're getting a kitchen put in has never put in a kitchen I

John Laforme:

know it's a lot of work because

Matt Neal:

it sucks the whole thing sucks unless you can do it all by yourself so that's the other thing is like well, I know I can do this job. So I don't care that it's broken. Right. Versus oh, we need a plumber to redo the whole house. Yeah, I am not going to do that. Right I don't know how to do that. That's a master craftsman needs to come here and spend a lot of time yes and hopefully they don't found that find the the foundations cracked along the way Yeah, right and like remember the beam in my house in that house? That support the center support beam of that house?

John Laforme:

Was it in the Oh, that's right in the attic together?

Matt Neal:

It was clamped together that's right by fours on either side. I was like, what else? Yeah, like Yeah, the job to fix that. Now. It's not expensive fix.

John Laforme:

That was an easy fix. You just simply replaced that beam that is I could have knocked that out in an hour where

Matt Neal:

there's smoke there's fire my friends like if they thought it was okay to put clamps on the master beam in the center of the house like what else is broken up looking at There we go. There's a picture right there. God, I was like, what?

John Laforme:

Like what they did was they sistered it. They said two two by fours, one on each side like a sandwich sandwich would glue,

Matt Neal:

not a nail. And not like do you think this will hold up like they

John Laforme:

they got crushed? Yeah, so basically shitty C clamps

Matt Neal:

like old C clamp.

John Laforme:

Super easy fix. I mean it would have taken a general contractor or handyman could have done that. It was so simple. It was ridiculous. But anyway, so yeah, I mean, let's like what I get asked a lot of questions from customers, and they sometimes they seem disappointed. I can't give them a price, huh? Well, ma'am, I'm trying to explain something to you that's going on inside the wall. Yeah. So you don't know what's in the wall until you open the wall. Oh my god. I gotta open the wall. Ma'am. Yep. Miss, sir. It doesn't matter who they are. I just come back right away. Look, drywall is only 15 bucks a sheet. It's not expensive. Yeah, it's just takes time to do it. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yes, it is. 15 bucks a sheet. Yeah, most cases. You know, you could be a little more, a little more right now. But. But anyway, it's still cheap. To me. That's still cheap in the grand scheme. And yeah, in the grand scheme of things, but hey, well, I want to mention some I forgot to mention in the beginning. Is you have a podcast?

Matt Neal:

I do. I do. It's called Peace of chaos. And I don't know if that's your personal one. Right? Yeah. It's, it's, I don't even know what like, you know, you're venting a little before the pandemic. I mean, I've done stand up comedy all over LA for the last 10 or 11 years. And you know, I love podcasts. Right. And as a comedian, I can't imagine other than actually performing any other way to be good at talking and taking up people's time with your thoughts. Yeah. Then podcasting. Like the practice of it. Right, right. So and over the years, I talked to so many people that I'm like, why don't you have a podcast because me like, I'm, it's a side gig for me. I'm, you know, I got other things, and I never felt like the more I said, it's more like this imposter syndrome thing, kind of weird. Psychology, but we'll get probably won't get into that. But like the idea being like, if I was going to do it, I would do this. You're 20 and have no responsibility. Why don't you have a podcast? Right? Like that? It come in from it from that angle? Just like you haven't, you do not realize that you have zero responsibility right now. Like I would talk to so many people, and I'm just like, Dude, you so I try. I was like, I gotta eat my own dog food here. Like, I tell people, they should make a weekly podcast, like, I should make a weekly podcast, I don't really give a shit if I tell people to make their own podcast, some of it sometimes. But also, like, I was like, okay, especially in the pandemic, like, this is all we got. And I just went from many great conversations a month to zero. Okay, like zero of those with comics, because comic conversations are just, I don't know. They're different. They're not funny. They're funny. They're great. But what I mean is like, it's not a business conversation. I see. Right? So like, you don't really censor or anything, right? It's just it's open conversation, you check your, your ego, because you'll have this crazy theory, you've been thinking about all day, and somebody be like, fuck are you talking about me like, well, this? And they're like, no, no, you're being crazy. Like, it's, it's beautiful. And I went from, you know, a lot of those to zero. And so I was like, well, at least want I can get in touch with people and get zoom links, because nobody's going anywhere. Right? So I started it as like this exercise of like discipline of like, well, how hard is it to get to a podcast every week? Like, I keep advising people to do it, because I have I love them. It's just something interesting. I get them every week. Yeah, I consume them. So it's doable. Right. So that was really it. So it's it. It is this nebulous thing that I don't know what it is yet. Sometimes it's great. I have guests sometimes, if the guests don't show up. I just ramble for a couple of minutes about whatever it is because I

John Laforme:

was gonna do tonight cuz I didn't hear from you all day. He gave me a seven minute notice. That was great. He's like, I'll be there in seven minutes.

Matt Neal:

I think we talked the other day. I figured that was confirmation

John Laforme:

a couple of days ago. Like, hey, I haven't heard from this guy all days. You gotta go. It's like I was starting to write my script from my, my soul. But anyway, yeah. So you actually hit me up and said, John, we got to talk. Yeah, you know, and then we had you and I had this little business meeting. Yeah. By zoom, because you are the reason we're talking here today, because

Matt Neal:

I'm sorry.

John Laforme:

This guy, he's the one that got me to do this. He goes, John, you need a podcast. And I was like,

Matt Neal:

it's I don't like, it's self serving.

John Laforme:

I don't like podcasts. I didn't, I didn't care for podcast. Just listen to people talk. Interest. I wasn't trying it. Yeah, that was just me just kind of blocking it out. I just want to hear music. Yeah. I just want to play music in my car and so forth. Yeah. And then the way you explained it, and the time you took to explain it to me, and you know, you because you were telling me Look, you have a really great thing going here. You should share this with other people. And I was like, You know what, with the way you explained it and open my eyes to it, yeah. Oh, wow. And then I think it was a week and a half later, I had my first episode. Yeah, yeah. September 1.

Matt Neal:

I think people don't have enough credit. Thank you. No problem. And I, you know, I learned a lot from you. Like I said, I it was really interesting to have that like, especially because of what I decided to do with that house and not not go through with it. But like, I was so desperate in those, like, in this search, because I was just like, why is this so hard? Why is this so slanted against me? Like, why is this so difficult? Like and I'm very fortunate, like, where I'm looking in what I'm planning able to pay? Like, like, wow, it's awesome. So it's, but it's just like, holy shit. And I'm, like, fairly smart at some stuff. Like, dude, this is a rigged mess of a game. And I was like, alright, this guy is going to tell me what's up. Because neither of these two people that are on either side of this give a shit. One guys move in houses at 2030 40% over what they actually probably should be. And the other guy gets a piece of it for shuffling Docu signs around, and opening doors for me, right? Like, something ain't right here. Like this is nobody is in this for me. And I know you can hire a real estate lawyer and then you have a person on your side. But like, so many people are taking a piece of that. It's like, okay, how much can I educate myself? How much am I willing to put into this? Yeah. And it ain't a lot because I like I said, I hate it. Yeah, so you arrive on the scene. I'm just like, Okay, do tell me what's up like, what am I in for here? Like,

John Laforme:

but what was your what? If you can remember, I don't know if you can remember this or not. But I just curious. It's just my curiosity asking what was your anticipation before you met me? Because I was referred to you like you didn't read? I don't know. Maybe your search me after they referred me now. Now. I showed up. You were hoping for the best for you.

Matt Neal:

I kind of had this inkling like, okay, Thoreau is good. Because this guy is going to need to be on my side, I'm probably going to have to fight for them to pay for shit that I know is broken. So I want to have a clean ability to do it. And mostly I was like, I hope somebody can speak English to me, because I'm so tired of talking to these people who can't really, like, communicate well, they end and they just have, they can just jump out into bullshit land all the time. Like, well, we don't have a crystal ball. It's like, I know. But like, Isn't this your business? Like, isn't this your favorite thing in the world? Aren't you watching, like, what

John Laforme:

they fail to explain to you is what's normal. And certain homes like a 1950s home, there's things to expect a 1980s homes, there's things to expect, but then they shouldn't even bring me to that house know that. But what I'm trying to say is Realtors don't know that. And I don't think they want to know that. So it'd be so helpful. It would be great if part of being a realtor meant you did some type of home inspection training, and had a general understanding of what we're doing there. A lot of realtors don't have that experience. So they look at me like their eyes go. When I say oh, hey, this looks like that. Because they just don't know what it means. And you know, I have no problem helping them understand. Yeah, but most of it of what you've experienced included is about their lack of knowledge. Yeah. So I try to help people all the time, but some of them they look at me like and I'm just like, I know I'm wasting my breath on this because they don't give a shit. Yeah. So it's

Matt Neal:

it's a weird business. It's a really weird business and like, especially out here the money people throw around without even giving it a second thought. You know, I mean, this last wave. We would there was a lot of conversation about most of these homes are going within a few days, not even over asking nobody even sees it sight unseen, bought by some conglomerate 1000 over just like, well, that's not how it's supposed to be. Like even in and this is a great place to live and I get supply and demand they're not building houses here, like, these are what we have. The real estate isn't changing. So I get it, but also like, Jesus, like, why can't we pull this into some level of

John Laforme:

it was the Wild West? It's crazy. 2020 Okay, when COVID struck the beginning of the end of 2019, and then the beginning of 2020. That's right. Yeah, right. Yeah. 2020 March. It was not until March, like, between for the month of March, it really slowed down because it's everyone really started. It started getting affected in the US. Yeah. And work slowed down a little bit. I noticed. And then march 1, it took off like a wildfire. It was the Wild West, my phone did not stop ringing until the following year. That's how busy it was. I had a helper, I had to get a helper and everything. It was crazy. And it seemed like everybody was just in this crazy rush like it was the end of the world. And that to buy a house somewhere. I have seen some crazy shit go down and 2020 and the beginning of 2021 as well.

Matt Neal:

The thing is, is the money's real. Yeah, the incentives are wrong. Like if you're buying for houses just because you need to park your several million dollars somewhere and you're never going to see those homes live in those homes experienced those homes. You're going to rent them out and make it a income stream. I get it. But fuck, that's hard for people that just want to buy a house and live with their family. Like,

John Laforme:

yes, yes, it does make it hard. It does make it hard for a simple a person to just do what they want to do.

Matt Neal:

It turns it into this weird game, just like the stock market. You know, and it's just like, This is unfair, like, it's so I don't know, it's frustrating. So, you know, I want to be done. Honestly, like, I've explored options where like, how could I just pay this all off and never think about it again. And any financial person would tell you that would be a really bad thing. because interest rates are low and blah, blah, blah, it's up your money will make more over here. I don't want to fucking think about it anymore.

John Laforme:

I want to pay off the house fetches W principal payment.

Matt Neal:

Right? But like, these things are not half the time these things are not that's a fact, out of the gate. They're not taught out of the gate. You know, like they never I don't know a lot of these things, you these huge things. And maybe I'm just the ignorant dummy to like, maybe I should have educated myself more sooner. I don't know. But it's just like, Dude, there's too many things to learn. So like, you know, look at buying a car, they're trying to screw me buying a house. They're trying to screw me it's like Jesus.

John Laforme:

So I never expect the client to understand everything about a house. I just don't because I don't know if they just came from 2530 years of apartment living. I have no idea. A lot of people do that. But I have met customers. Uh, you know, I've never, never lived in a house. I've always been in apartments with my family. And yeah, I'm out of my own. And I want to buy my own house. So I never expect any customers to know exactly what I'm talking about. Yeah. But unless you live in a cave, you should understand what a door is. And what a window is. Because I'm sure you've opened and closed both of them. Yeah, millions of times since you were a toddler. Yeah. And who knows, you might even jumped out of a fuel. You know what I mean? So I don't, I don't try. I don't expect certain things. But the customers expect so much from me. And they think I'm going to be able to answer every single thing. And I'm going to inspect every single thing in the house. But you got to understand a basic Chatsworth. 1500 square foot house is going to have a front door, a back door and maybe a couple side doors. It's going to have a kitchen, one kitchen. It's going to have a couple 232 and a half, three bathrooms. Two to three bedrooms. Maybe that's about it. Yeah, it doesn't have solar. Yeah, it doesn't have a pool. Yeah, not all houses have the same components. Yeah. So I don't know what a house has until I show up. Yeah. Oh shit. You know what? You got a sprinkler system here. I don't inspect those and I gotta tell them I see so they think you're gonna I'm gonna inspect everything in that house this way I have a limitations all home inspectors have limitations. Yeah, we're there for the meat the meat and potatoes of the house. Yeah, the roof the foundation heating and cooling electrical plumbing.

Matt Neal:

And is there like a certification for you to get other things that you could be the whole package because you did other stuff for me? That was like additional. I did

John Laforme:

I did the sewer for you. sewer line for you had to do swimming pools. Yeah. So those are those are things that are outside the home inspection scope. Yeah. But they're doable. Yeah, I do them every day. Yeah. So I most days I do a home and a sewer together. Yes. Most days I go to work. Yeah. So but that's that's something that's always a tough thing to break through with some customers. And the part that bothers me the most is the realtor and the realtors are not I'm not trying to generalize, but I think I am. They just don't let them know these things like, that's the

Matt Neal:

part that frustrates to me. They're just scheduling. My experience was it is a is a whirlwind, especially in a crazy market, like, Okay, we told him to do a 15 day escrow, that means you have to do this this day, we try to get the termite guy here today. And like, they're just trying to schedule it. The other thing is that they're not business people necessarily in the truest sense of what I'm used to in the corporate world of like, timing and meetings and business, and it's just like, they work whenever. Sometimes they don't work at all. You know what I mean? So it's just like, I can't live like this. It didn't work for me. So like, it would be great if they explained more or knew more, but like, you would think,

John Laforme:

if you're selling something, if you're going to sell that water bottle, and somebody had questions about it, don't you think it's best? You know, everything about that was a great point. Okay, that's a great point. So if you're going to buy an electric car, which I know you have, you probably researched a lot. You probably looked it up online, and then when you get to the showroom, let's go look at this thing. I want to touch it. Yeah. I'm sure you grilled that salesperson. Yeah. What does this do? What does that do? Okay, here's, here's, here's another example. You go to Best Buy. Don't ever go to Best Buy anybody to buy a cell phone. Because you're going to get some teeny bopper. 1617 years old, just their first job. Oh, can I help you? And I look right on the go. Can you help me? Yeah. I have a question about this. Oh, let me get my manager so

Matt Neal:

I guess you're sponsored by so so.

John Laforme:

So I guess you couldn't help me know that fell through. But hey, Best Buy. I'm here. So if you want to shout out to my

Matt Neal:

cousin, Best Buy manager. Oh, Best Buy man. But he you know, what's his name? Jared.

John Laforme:

Jared, what's up? Jared? I don't know what stories are. Generalizing. I don't know if it was your store. Dude.

Matt Neal:

I hate when people don't know what I'm talking about. I hate I hate Lowe's. I hate right Home Depot. If I like if you're putting on that vest. You better fucking know your shit. At least in your department. Yeah, like know where things are like it's such a relief. Yes.

John Laforme:

It's called doing your job. It's not that hard to absorb. Yeah. So back to back to certain you know, your expectations. I get it. Sometimes I get a bang on the table too. And so but it's the expectations. I mean, I expect a professional to know what's going on. So here's an example. I got a Jeep in the garage. I bought a nice custom heavy duty bumper for the back. Because if you get rear ended in a jeep with a stock bumper, I hope you live Yeah, that thing's plastic. Yeah, I get rid of that thing as soon as I could. So I ordered it did a lot of research. Call the company Hey, I'd like to order this to make sure I get the right one because I have parking sensors. Great. They sell me the they sell me the fucking bumper. Send it to me. Great. Hey, yeah, I call them up. I'm missing some parts. What parts are missing? Well, I'm missing the the bezels to hold in the the sensors. Yeah. Oh, you have to buy that separate. Nobody could have told me that. Fuck. Didn't you tell me that one? I spent 900 bucks on the bumper. Yeah, I was so pissed. So I had a weekend project that had a stop. Yeah. And wait till the following Wednesday to get my parts.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, it's it's pervasive, dude. But I think it's you can I can almost excuse I can almost excuse that scenario, because? Well, you can't, but you can because it's just like, okay. Don't assume that the person has the parts catalog in front of them. Don't assume that nobody took the time to say hey, if you're doing this bumper, you need this, this and this. I mean, that's general Amazon shit. Like people who bought this also bought this. It's very helpful sometimes like, oh, I need the dogs. Oh, I need batteries. Very similar mention of it. There was no mention of it. So I just think that my defense, there's ineptitude everywhere and pointing right back at myself. Like I could only arm myself with what I could arm myself with going into those transactions. And I know they're big transactions, but it's just like, dude, so many people pulling at you. And you also so you're encountering a shell shocked person most times or somebody who's checking a box. You know, either they don't give a shit yet. Or they're being bombarded and you're one of the 50 things they got to deal with that day. Right? That hopefully they had time with in a crazy market now like if it was leisurely. Or you didn't have Realtors like you got to put a you saw it now five minutes. You guys gonna put in an offer? I have to do it right now. Donkey, I'm going to DocuSign it now. So you get right and there's a waiting list and send them a video of your family and a nice letter saying you really love their house like I'm not kidding, dude. It was bananas. Yep. Like what Are we doing his thing? So it's just like, alright, that's the reality. That's where we're playing in and you are my only like, fan to be just like, What? What do I need to do?

John Laforme:

Yeah, I'm not bias. Yeah, I'm not there is awesome make or break a deal? You know I definitely don't like giving people I don't I don't have a good day by giving somebody bad news. I hate having to get bad news. Yeah, like I just want to tell someone Hey, you know like grab your shit move in. Yeah, that's all I want to say. Yeah movies Yeah, grab your shit move in understand it's a house it's now your responsibility something breaks you're fixing it. Yeah. Or you can get a home warranty package or something like that. But that's it's just, it's just a lot of, you know, it's a mixture of things. It's kind of like a shit show. Yeah, in a way. But you know, some transactions go really good man. Everyone's on. Everyone's on point. I do work with several realtors who are on their top of their game. Yeah, they understand what I'm supposed to do they understand what the next guy is supposed to do. Yeah. And they just aren't seamless in their process. There's only a few out there like that. Yeah, I'm talking maybe. I know, maybe 10 Realtors like that. Yeah, they're just really on top of their game. But there's a lot of other ones who just learning and hey, there's nothing wrong with not knowing something. Yeah, I don't know everything. Yeah, definitely don't know everything. But it's just the way it is. Yeah. But let's get back to your house. Yeah, that's just something just popped into my head. Yeah. So anyway, your inspection, like I said was going great. You are being interactive with me. We you and I have just conversing greatly. And yeah, and then then the whole world turned upside down on me. Yeah. So Matt saw me lose my cool. I was really, really upset. And and I'll tell you why.

Matt Neal:

I didn't know it was. I didn't know is like I was witnessing something miraculous. But also like, it may have felt really like you lost your shit. But you held it together pretty well. I was like, damn, this guy's holding it together pretty nice. I was on fire inside and I was fighting back. The same. The same like what? Shut Oh,

John Laforme:

really? You are really quiet. And I didn't know what to make of what you were thinking. So I was a little nervous. I'm like, holy shit. This this guy. This guy is trying to buy this house. He was referred to me. Yeah, buys realtor and now his realtor is throwing me under the bus. Yeah, yeah. So this is what happened. I did a sewer inspection on his house. I tried to do try to do well, actually, no, I technically I did it. Yeah, I did a sewer inspection. And I ran my camera a good 100 feet from the side of the house out to the street. And as soon as I put the camera in the line, I couldn't get it. It was all something was on my lens. Yeah, like right away. It was like a slime. I'm like, Well, typically when someone gets on the lens, I flush the toilets in Washington and everything's fine. Yeah. So just to be clear, up until that day, I've never seen this condition in a sewer line before. And since then, I've never seen this condition of sewer line. So let's be clear, very special. How rare this was. Yeah. So the realtor we're not going to mention any names. Rookie. They're gonna calm the rookie. Yeah. He was literally sitting behind me. Watching what I was doing. Yeah, the entire time. You were somewhere else. You were doing some other stuff. Yeah. But he was sitting right with me. And I'm explained to him as though it looked as a slimy thing on the lens here. Can you go flush the toilet? So he flushed a few toilets for me? Yeah. And then he comes back and I'm pushing out pushing out like Now why is this clear enough? My lenses blow my mind. Yeah, so I pushed out 100 feet. And I couldn't see shit. I couldn't see anything. That was no pun intended. Yeah. So you need perfect. So anyway, so anyway, I said, You know what, I'm going to have to pull this out. Clear my clear the reel off and try it again. Yeah, so I literally reeled back 100 feet of line. Yep. cleaned it off. Cleaned it made sure I cleaned that lens real good. And I put it back in again. And within 10 feet, same problem. Yeah, but I didn't stop I tried to kept I pushed out like another 60 feet. Yeah. And it wouldn't clear off. Nothing was helping. So I pulled it back out again. I tried it one more time. Yeah, the whole time. I keep saying this because there's a good point to this whole time the rookie was sitting behind me. Yeah, watching and I'm explaining this as I'm doing it. Yeah. I said look, there's something that keeps getting on the lens. Somebody poured something into that sewer line that they shouldn't have. And it was like a slimy which made me The camera lens blurry. Yeah. couldn't see anything. Yeah. So I'm like, That's it. So I can do. Yeah. So I'm done with it. The rookie doesn't say anything to me about Hey, John, you know, do you think you think maybe you can give Matt a discount or something like that? He didn't say anything over here. Yeah. By when we were alone, which which he should have done. Now John, you know that what I've explained to him? Look, I understand your point. But I just spent 30 minutes trying to inspect this line. I ran a camera at 100 feet. This there's so much that slime on there. I couldn't even locate the camera because the sun was covered. It was thrown it screwed up the whole thing.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, in my mind, you could have been you'd have been justified to say, my report is I can't complete something wrongly. That's the report. And that's why that's the service key.

John Laforme:

Yeah, it doesn't get which most people don't get the process. Yeah. Now, if I wasn't able to get into the line, well, I've already gave you a full refund. Absolutely, absolutely. So why we tell them the story. Well, we're getting to the good part. So now, inspections are all done in two, three inspections, home pool and sewer. And we're all in the garage talking. And I started explaining the problem with the sewer because Matt did. Matt didn't witness that. Yeah. So I said, so there's a slime in there. And it's literally throughout the whole pipe. I was I couldn't say anything. And then before I get a chance to finish the rookie steps and oh, so John, so you know, you couldn't do your job? Yeah. Whoa, yeah, my fuse. Got lit, he lit my fuse by saying that I was I would say for what, three and a half hours. It was a long day. It was a long day. And this jackass tells me I didn't do my job.

Matt Neal:

For let's be honest, a fraction of what I was paying, right? He was arguing to like 200 bucks. I don't want my client to have to pay and I'm like, Bitch, you're gonna get a lot of money. Yeah, and this is what you're worried about, like, Come on, man.

John Laforme:

Like, we start getting into an argument. And I don't know, well, no match telling me now that I looked like I was cool, calm and collected. But I feel that way is that I thought I was gonna bust out on my skin and strangled is there. I was so mad that why I'm like, because he was talking to me as a third person. Like he wasn't there. His questions to me were like he just rolled up to the house. Is this now hearing this? Yeah, he sat behind me and watched it. That's why I kept looking. I go what are you talking about? Yeah. So anyway, why did you walk on that house?

Matt Neal:

I walked on the house, because there were so many things wrong with it. All little things, all repairable things but like I said, they added up to be even if I did the bare minimum, based on your report. Yeah. Even if I did what would like the beam? I don't know if the toilets any good. I don't know if the lines any good. I you know, I would have had to do another inspection. With a specialist. We were talking about the hydrojetting. Yeah, we needed all these other things cleaned out. Yeah, I think they actually did that, by the way. And about a week later dropped the price of the house after I dropped out. So like, I definitely dodged a bullet. But it was just like, Where there's smoke, there's fire man like, and like I said, I was pretty desperate, the House did not check all the boxes of what I really ultimately wanted. But I was like, I'll tolerate it. Just let me off this fucking ride. With the realtors with the market. With all of it. I was like, this is fine. It has enough bedrooms. It has a pool, I'll be finished. So there was an element of just trying to get it over with that even let me look at that house. Right. And then the pressure from the realtor to be like, you know, we've been looking at houses for a long time. I've shown you a lot of houses. Yeah. Just like, that's when I lost my cool. I was like, Yeah, I didn't sign up for a commission job. You did. And you'll show me all the houses if I want to. Because it's my money. Right? Like, then I got really mad because I was just like, yeah, you've shown me a lot of houses. And my wife even says don't even bother looking at that one. And I want to look as I want to inform myself like what I'm weighing a decision here. Like, I know, I'm gonna have to pay over, over what it's worth. So what jobs Am I willing to also pay for? Before I even move into the house? And there were so many in that place. I was like, I don't like it enough. I don't like the neighborhood enough. Like, you know, I like the day. I think the day i I told him I wasn't going to do it and he was pissed that I was going to pull out of the deal. And I didn't know I could I asked specifically like if I do this am I done? He's like now you have a gate. After the inspection. You can pull out No, no questions. So I was like, okay, so I knew I had that in my back pocket. But like, the day I was going to, like, finally be like, Okay, let me look at this one more time and just be like, yes or no, like, this ride will tell me this, this visit will make the decision for me. And, you know, I pull up to the, the corner that I'd have to turn on to go to that place. And there's a fast food restaurant there. And it was like, two turns away from that house. And I was just like, I can't square in my mind spending this much money. And part of my direction to people that visit me will be like, turn right at Arby's. I just, it just didn't work. Right? It just like I can't, like something's wrong. I'm getting screwed here. And I don't even like the house that much didn't say. So. I played the card like, I'm done. I'm out. You know, here's the thing. I was lied to. Like, I didn't know not lied to. Information was withheld. From you real to me. Did you know that you didn't have to sign an agreement with a realtor for them to show you houses? Because I didn't know. Yeah, you don't have to sign anything. Hmm. So you misled. I was not informed. Conveniently, right. Here's the thing. If you're honest with me, like, look, you know, if you have to sign anything, I'm going to show you all the houses you want to find what you want. And that's when I get paid. Or that's the job. Or you better sign this or we won't show you houses anymore. I was like, Well, I want this over with so and I want somebody that can open the door for me. So here. I didn't have to sign that piece of paper. That's fucked up.

John Laforme:

That is fucked up. Like, yeah, that's, that's shady. That's what

Matt Neal:

I'm saying is that it gets a little a little shady. I've had more of I've had more of that than a good experience. Let's just say that. But I haven't been doing it a lot. Right. Like I said, this is my third home. Third time I've bought a home. I have one home. Yeah. So the person that finally helped me out was cool was honest. I didn't have to sign anything. told me the real deal. I was like, I'm overpaying a little bit and she's like, a little bit. But you don't have to do this, this and this and look at this yard. And I was like, because even if I bought a house that had land, or a pool, I couldn't have landscaped it like it is like it's I don't have to leave like it. I was coming here. I was like, I don't really want to go anywhere. Like my house. Is just like, it'd be fun once I get there. But like, geez, this is I don't like I don't leave it.

John Laforme:

I'll come to you. I'll be on your podcast. I'll drive to you. No, I have no problem. I

Matt Neal:

was like, damn, John came all the way out to this area for inspections. That's amazing.

John Laforme:

I've gone further than that. Yeah, it's a big enough job. And it's far it's worth it. Yeah, it's just a day's pay. You know, um, don't ask me to drive to Bakersfield for a condo. But, uh, so anyway, after our little incident that day, I forgot to mention I felt obligated to call you and I did I waited like an hour for when the cooled I wasn't sure if you were mad or not. I think one of your friends had showed up. Oh, yeah. I was like, I was so mad at him for putting me putting me in that zone. Yeah. And because you know, you were quiet. You weren't really saying anything. So I didn't know what you were thinking. I'm like, Man, this guy seems so cool. Everything was so good until this idiot can open his mouth and start some unnecessary nonsense, which he should have pulled me aside. Yeah, without

Matt Neal:

me. He was trying to say look what I'm doing for you. I'm fighting for you. I was just like, yeah, for no bucks. Thanks, dude.

John Laforme:

And it's not like he didn't know me. He I've I've inspected houses for this guy before his other customers. So that was kind of weird. Yeah, I think he might have walked away from that going, You know what, I think I just screwed up. Maybe his wife mentioned something to him. I don't know. Because she was there to his wife showed

Matt Neal:

up. I listen. I was weird. It was weird. I didn't like any of it. It's not a out of the like. It doesn't seem like that's I wouldn't say it's the norm. But the excellence you're talking about isn't the norm. Right. So I experienced what a lot of people experience and he did and I trusted the wrong people. And I, you know, we thought this will be great because not only you get two for the price of one, but they're also hungry because they're young. So our deployment was like, That's good logic. Go get them kids. Like that's good logic, because we know that the end of the day the realtor is just having you sign some paperwork. So you have to pick and choose. What we should have chosen is somebody very experienced with insider knowledge of where we're looking, which is what we ended up doing. But I learned a lot I saw and they learned a lot because they were new and we showed up 30 different houses and different neighborhoods in that area. So like, we basically gave him a free education of the area from out of town. And, you know, you know, honestly,

John Laforme:

so this kind of segues us into one of your podcast episodes I was listening to earlier today. We made a comment.

Matt Neal:

Don't expect yourself from others. Yeah.

John Laforme:

Don't expect yourself from others. Yeah. In a bigger picture, don't ever think common knowledge to you is common knowledge to the person next to you. Yeah, because it's not. But when you're so involved in your own little world of business, you assume when you talk, everybody knows what you're talking about. And that's a really, really important thing to know. If you're not thinking of that you really should start given that some thoughts and next time you speak to somebody about something that may be kind of complex. Remember, not everybody's used a hammer before. Yeah. Not everybody's opened a window and jumped out of it. Yeah, you know what I mean? So it's like,

Matt Neal:

and you don't know what they're thinking right at all at all. And whatever, you guess, is probably wrong, probably. So, you know, you're going to paint your whole interaction on what you assume. And you're probably wrong for everybody involved. And like, I read this book by Nicholas Eppley. It's called Mind wise, where he talks about this whole concept, and they've done studies like, we're not even close, regardless of how well we know the person either. It doesn't matter complete stranger, spouse, mother, father, doesn't matter. Like you are wrong. Yeah, you don't know what they're thinking. No, but you base all of your interaction on them with them on what you think they think. Like, let me say this, because they're probably thinking I'm crazy. And meanwhile, they're not thinking anything like most of the time, unless I'm actually thinking something. I might not be thinking anything. Like, I might have resting bitchface and just be like, zoned out and thinking of in that garage. I could not tell what your feelings were. Yes. When this whole thing was blowing up in front of me. I was like, Oh, shit. Yeah. I was thinking. I was thinking, Who gives a shit about $200 at this point? Like, that's what I was thinking, why are we wasting time on this conversation? What's wrong with my house that I might buy? Like, that's all I was thinking. And I was like, This is a weird time to bring up a fee. Yeah, like, never understand that. So. Yeah, I mean, it is a very fascinating thing with humans and you calling me. I was like, wow, he was really upset. Like he really was really upset. Like that really took a toll. I was like, okay, it wasn't just me. Like, that was weird. Yeah, it's, it's pretty crazy. So and then, you know, when I had another house to buy, yeah, I told my relative to call you.

John Laforme:

Right? Oh, by the way, I was really surprised to hear from you. Really? I was, yeah. Is once again, you know, you kind of have a poker face. Hmm. You know. So until now, you talk to me more openly, because we know each other a bit. We converse quite a few times since then. Yeah. When I first met you, you know, you just seem to have a poker face. You didn't really express like, wow, or, you know, sad. You just kind of like right there in the middle. So

Matt Neal:

most of the time, I'm literally inundated with like, thought thought, and what do I have to do next? And what does that what do I do with that as well? He also,

John Laforme:

you know, so I look serious all the time? Well, it's because I'm thinking about some Yeah, I have responsibility ever switches.

Matt Neal:

Like I got things I got to do. Like, yeah. It's It's hard being a human.

John Laforme:

I'm a business owner. I never stopped working. Yeah, I never stopped. I can't imagine. Alright, so you know, and now you, you talk to me into doing this. And now I'm doing this to add on to all the other shit I got to do.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, I feel about the podcast, that it enhances you as a person, which has to have an impact on the other things. It's not that one leads to another. It's not like you start a podcast, somebody else automatically pays you for your podcast. No, like, maybe someday. Maybe somebody someday you'll make it a lucrative thing. Maybe you'll hit the right person at the right time and change the course of their entire life because they don't fuck up. Something you already fucked up. Like, I think about this with my kids. I'm like, you can't tell him everything. And I don't know everything. So like, there's going to be some things they learn. And I'd be like, I would have told you not to do that, because I already figured that out. But you have to figure it out. Yeah, you know what I mean? But also just like thinking about it a little bit differently. Like, I'm like, well, and I have the luxury of not like, this isn't your main business. This isn't your main source of income. But some people could make it their main source of income if they if they gave it the attention they need, but like, I just like the form. I like finding shit out. I like listening to it.

John Laforme:

Now I listened to other people's podcasts. They're great because you open my eyes to it. Yeah, and maybe stop being an ogre. Just like oh, well, you know what's, what the hell is a podcast? So I just kind of started listening. I do enjoy Watching a video podcast more than just listening to one. Yeah, but if I'm in bad traffic, I'll just put on anyone's podcast and just

Matt Neal:

listen. It's a different thing. If you just listen, you know, they're on YouTube, and that's great. But, and I was talking to my buddy Andy about this. I did a podcast with him about it. Actually, I was gonna ask you, is that his real name? Yeah, I guess Indiana? Yeah. Yeah. But he, he's all in on video podcast. And I was like, Well, I don't consume them that way. But it's interesting that there's obviously people that do consume it that way. And maybe it's just on your computer, and it's playing and you're not looking at it. Because to your point, like you want to make it interesting for people. Maybe they're not actually looking. Maybe YouTube's just playing it. Awesome. Well, it could be in another, it could be in another tab. Right. So what are you doing? They're there for the information, like, I think, but also, if you want to make a show out of it, and put it on YouTube.

John Laforme:

Go for it. It's just another platform to get it out there. Like yeah, like,

Matt Neal:

do what you want to do. But like, I think, like, I don't know, all I can do is my experience. Like I listen to them. I like the Apple podcast app. I like to spot the Spotify app. Like, I just like the audio.

John Laforme:

So I've been doing some A B testing. Yeah. So I have when I launch when I launched the podcast version only. It's not the same time as the YouTube version of interesting if I have a guest. Yeah. So I try to get it out as quick as I can. The first few are bumpy, because I wasn't sure I wanted to film it. Yeah, I wanted it edited. But now we get it. Nailed it. Just a split screen. It works great. Yes.

Matt Neal:

Easy. Watch. I watched a little bit of the one with the realtor actually. Okay, yeah.

John Laforme:

So anyway, so with that being said, Now that got it all figured out. It's it's just a lot. It's just a lot easier now. So what I've been doing is watching how many? How many views I'm getting on YouTube compared to how many people are listening to it? Yeah, the actual podcast. And it varies. Yeah, one episode is going to be more on YouTube, one of them's going to be less on the

Matt Neal:

Plus, you're the other thing I would think with yours is I understand why people would go to YouTube to look for a video about an H vac system there. Right? As opposed to if you're just a podcast, listener, realtor, or home inspector or whatever. You just take whatever comes along, you know what I mean? So it's about like SEO, what do you have people search for? What do you assume they're going to search for?

John Laforme:

I use certain apps for YouTube to help help narrow that down to see what's popular. trending. Yeah, I use those little apps. Yeah, I'm assuming it's working. Have my membership, my subscribers has definitely increased quite a bit and has six months.

Matt Neal:

You're such a timely transaction, though. You know what I mean? Like a once and done for a lot of people, right? Like, usually, you know, or like over the years, the more people you can accumulate that use a home inspection all the time would be your best kind of customer like, yeah, if I didn't look at two houses last year, to the point that I did, I would have had one transaction with you.

John Laforme:

Right, but still be it still be included on my newsletters. I send out newsletters to bring people to YouTube. But for me, thanks.

Matt Neal:

I don't want to do it anymore. I so I don't give a shit.

John Laforme:

You don't give a shit until something breaks, then you'd be on my YouTube channel going on. You know what John might exactly is John have a person or what should I do? Yeah, so that's yeah, trying to get read here with the YouTube. Just put it there, put it there and let it go. Let I'm trying to help people understand stuff. But you know, you're you're a homebuyer. You're a client. And I just wanted to get your opinion today. Yeah. Of you know, what was your transaction? Yeah. And you and I happen to have a funny moment there. Yeah. Now it's funny. I laugh about it now. And then you call me again for another house. And that one was just a lot went a lot smoother. Yeah. I think your Realtors just left me alone. Yep. It's probably because you told them to.

Matt Neal:

Who knows? They're just better people. They

John Laforme:

were just better cooler. Yeah, they were just nicer people, better people, whatever experience whatever. Yeah, they were experienced, but they weren't destroyed by the business, obviously. Right. You know what I mean? So I think some people are in it so long, they get burnt out. And they just don't care about much. But

Matt Neal:

I guess I don't know, man. It's a rough one. I wouldn't choose that role. I get it. But it's not

John Laforme:

sales is tough. Man. You're in a sales business. That's a tough thing.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, it's not even really sales. It's not their house. It's a house. Yeah. And to your point, like, go learn that house.

John Laforme:

Yes, right. And educate yourself like as to what you're selling. Like, you're

Matt Neal:

not going to like the house I'm selling not like let's go look at these six that I didn't really check into and probably won't like. Well, it said you said you want a three bedroom. So this one has three bedrooms. I did my job. It's like, Yeah, but really

John Laforme:

little more to it than that.

Matt Neal:

Or or you know what, like, I know you said three bedrooms, but this one has this thing that you should see. Like, go look for me first. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't. I don't know what they should do. I think I know what I wanted with which was just straight up real information. Right? Like, please don't bullshit me on this. I know nobody has a crystal ball. But doesn't it seem weird? That he really gave me the crystal ball line? I've gotten that a couple times. Yeah, and the crystal ball. Well, we don't have a crystal ball here.

John Laforme:

I'm gonna laugh when I as soon as I hear that it works someday. What are you laughing? Oh, nothing.

Matt Neal:

What's that? What's that? What's that? Sure you got there?

John Laforme:

Oh, guitar ninjas man. That's uh, that's the Guitar School. I go. For a quick word from our sponsor. Are you a music lover, but don't know how to play a musical instrument. And check out guitar ninjas.com Ellie's leading Music School for both kids and adults specializing in guitar, bass and drum lessons. Locations in Los Angeles and Orange County or worldwide with online lessons. A unique gamified way of learning to play music. membership includes access to our app and desktop portal loaded with lesson videos and other useful learning tools. To book a free trial lesson go to guitar ninjas COMM And mentioned this podcast rock on

Matt Neal:

right, you know, like, even when I was there with you, I was like, something about like, the pool kind of stuff and the pool equipment and stuff and you're just like, well, these break? Yeah, like, this one's kind of old. Like, you know, like, that's what you want. Like, they're about four grand, like, okay, like, I just had the calculator going in my head like okay 710 25 Okay, you know what I mean? Like, you got to be realistic about it. It's it's so it's so stupid. You know and I got crushed in the in the 2007 on like that you just destroyed that's that's when I started really distrusting realtor, like the whole realtor thing. I was like, Why did you let me do this? Like, you knew I was naive, you knew I was like, vulnerable. Like, why? Why did you let me do this? Like, I think back at some of the like, way, they showed me houses and what houses they showed me. Right? And I'm like, if we would have bought that other house, and had a real conversation about it, I wouldn't be in this situation right now. Like literally. And I was just like, I think if I knew as much about real, real estate as that person knew about real estate, I probably would tell them all the stuff I know about real estate. Like, listen, you just had a kid you're gonna get real sick of this townhouse. Real soon? Probably sooner than you think. And it's really expensive. Can you just wait? Or want to get the money? Or? Or say, you know, for an extra X amount of money? Like, I know, this is a lot of money. But like, if you just think about it this way. You don't have to do the same thing in a couple years. Like you. It doesn't matter what happens because, yeah, because because, like, Why? Why would you make this investment now knowing? It might like like, just say this markets insane? Like, I don't know why this house is selling for double its price three years after somebody bought it. I don't understand it. It can't be right. It's got to correct. But I don't know when I don't have a crystal ball on when that's going to happen. But like, here's your risk, like, like, if, like, even like if this market crashes, here's where you're going to land. These homes are going to drop back down to X, Y, and Z and you're stuck. For however long that swing takes like that conversation, you put a bunch of cash in there, you can't touch it, that conversation would have changed my decision. Instead of well. Look, you don't have to do X, Y and Z and these are always a good investment. It's near a good school. It's like is it because for 10 years it was a shit investment. Yeah, you know, and for two seconds it was worth the shit again and then it leveled off again. It's and meanwhile it's I don't like it right? I don't like it. Why did you why did I don't know. It's all it's all a Monday morning quarterback. You know, like, but I I know my takeaway was I feel like you fucked me over on purpose. And that's not good.

John Laforme:

No It's a bad No, it's a bad feeling,

Matt Neal:

you know, going to have that happen a couple times. I'm like, Ooh, I sense a pattern.

John Laforme:

You know, you know, I've, um, you know, I've done really well with real estate over the years. I've I've bought sold many homes. Yeah. Condos, houses at some investment properties in Vegas. I still got one over there. Yeah. And, you know, so I've, I've done different things, different transactions, different ways, and so forth. My first house, I only I only put out of my pocket was 25 grand. Yeah, I get into my first first Townhome. And then that's here in California. And then I bought my second house in 2001, in West Hills, Bell Canyon area. And that there I had to put a big downpayment. I was like, Well, to me, it was huge. It was I put down 160,000 It's not a not a joke, you know, so I got some serious shit, you know, and but, you know, it was not a problem for me to do it. It was the right time. I had the money, and everything was good. So I did it, you know, and that's the house I sold. Seven years later. Yeah. For 2 million. And it's crazy. I only paid 845 for it. So I did really well on that on that transaction. Yeah. The next one, bought a house in Chatsworth. And I was like, You know what, I don't want my mortgage payment to be that high. So I wanted to keep it down around four grand, so I want to put down 300,000. Wow. I regretted that year later. Yeah. Cuz I didn't want to live there anymore. And the market started dropping. Yeah. So it was a lesson learned. Now I'm looking at I would love to get a house right now. Yeah. in Burbank here. Yeah. And something with a good sized lot. Maybe put it at you in the back. Have somebody pay my mortgage? Yeah, that's the ultimate goal right there. Yeah. Yeah. But I deal with this stuff every day. I see what's going on. I see who's paying for what how many bidding wars there are. Yeah, I'm not gonna do that with the cash again. Yeah. Yeah. Because I had my on the last house I had in Chatsworth. Yeah. I was. I sold it because I wasn't happy there. Yeah, that was it. I just want I didn't want to live there anymore. So I took a loss. I lost about 100 grand Yeah, of that money I put down. Yeah. Which is kind of a drag. So I don't ever want to have to do that again. But right now, that's what you have to do. Yeah, you have to dish out over 100,000 if not more, if someone's bidding higher. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want to. I don't I don't like to pleading my cash like that. Yeah. So yeah, that's what's stopping me from making that move.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, I just I couldn't. I couldn't take it anymore. Like I said, I'm out of the game. And one of these days I'll just write it fine. Like write a check. Just be like, leave me the fuck alone forever. And yeah, I'll work at Starbucks. If that's your something. Yeah,

John Laforme:

that's it forever house. Good.

Matt Neal:

I still want to think about it anymore. It's fine.

John Laforme:

Sorry, I brought you here to bring the bring all that shit again. I just dragged No, I didn't know you feel that way. So now I know. Okay. No more talking about houses. So anyways, the second house it did for is going well. Yeah. Moved in love it. And you just called me not too long about building walls and built a studio and yeah, that's right. You're also you're a drummer. You're a musician. Like hey, yeah, as you can see, I got my toys out. Yeah. Nice. That's my music room over there. I got a jam out tomorrow. Nice. So how's the drummer going? Do you in a band or anything?

Matt Neal:

Starting a sort of restarting relaunching a 90s cover band. I was in one for a bunch of years out here. And so the bass player, guitar player and myself are reunited we have a new singer named Jacob Givens. He's great. And we're all kind of like watching mask mandates and shit. Like when like, yeah, it's really hard to do a gig right? It's it's it's not worth it to me. Yeah, like my time is. I was like, Hey, guys, we're all pretty good. Like we got together and played a couple times. And you know, I've been in original bands where you need to really work right? These are cover band cover songs like you know them they're right here like what songs you talking about? Oh, like smashing pumpkins? You know, Pearl Jam. That like 90s literally rock grunge right? So we I was like, well rehearse a couple times. Just to like, set our set up and get a feel but like, know the songs and show up like we all have kids and shit to do like Yeah, I know the songs. We all know the songs. We're good together. We play them well together. We can do that. And get paid. We don't have to rehearse four times a week. We're not 15 Like it's like show up and know that I know the material. Yeah. Because to me, I love it. And I missed it. And I and I love it. And part of the building the studio was I can actually be a studio musician. I can actually record drums eight tracks of Pro Tools. Real shit. So I'll do that on the side and my my old band that I toured with and the original band, we're gonna get together and record again, hopefully in person also. But like, the 90s cover band is just so much fun. It's just so much fun. And like, I don't know over the pandemic, because comedy went away. I really just dove back into playing drums.

John Laforme:

Oh, by the way, speaking of comedy, I want to mention I inspected Brian Williams house.

Matt Neal:

Oh, really? You know, Brad? Yeah, yeah, it's

John Laforme:

back to this house. Oh, nice. A couple years back. He was cool. Yeah. And then I went saw one of his shows over at a flappers.

Matt Neal:

I think he I think I did a podcast with him at flappers. They do. Yeah. Because they had this. They had this podcast where some like a newer comic, there's a long time ago, a newer comic would come in and do five minutes. And then professional comics would, you know, right rate rate, it was like, like, kill Tony but nicer. Right. You know, like they were they were kind and Brad was one of the the judges. And he was super cool.

John Laforme:

Yeah. Are you still actively doing comedy right now?

Matt Neal:

I'm not going out right now. Like, I don't want to sit in a closed room with people with masks on.

John Laforme:

Do you get? You're gonna bless me with a little skit.

Matt Neal:

No, it doesn't work that way. No. So I used to produce shows, which is what I really like to do. And, and so you make comedy shows? Yeah, okay. Yeah. So I may bring that back when you don't need a mask and a COVID card and I love comedy. Yeah, it's, it's amazing comedy.

John Laforme:

It's amazing. My last show I went to was Craig Shoemaker.

Matt Neal:

He's a good dude. I know how much the love master and I know the love master. Well, He's great. He's a good guy. He he he he is extremely good at his job. Yeah, in a live show. Craig is Craig is a good guy. Craig is a good guy at I think about piss my pants. Yeah, he

John Laforme:

got me going. I mean, my girl loved them, too. Yeah.

Matt Neal:

It's funny because because people don't see comics as often. Right. So he's, I love last one of the best.

John Laforme:

I love comedy. I love laugh. He's a classic. Yeah,

Matt Neal:

he's a classic. He's doing a lot of cool. So I convinced him to start a podcast.

John Laforme:

I see that you are the condenser. Yeah. Podcast condenser.

Matt Neal:

Yeah, he he's got a new one. Now. I think he's doing well. Like I think the pandemic I think actually has COVID I think he's been sick the last couple days. But like, he he kind of lit up going after some things for himself different than than comedy because I mean, for people that make their living that way. Oh, his shows disappeared for you know,

John Laforme:

Brad show is hilarious. Yeah, he's funny. He was like,

Matt Neal:

I think Craig has a show every week at the canyon club up that way up in 1000. oaks that he puts on, right? Yeah, he's He's a good dude.

John Laforme:

Yeah, I can't I want to get out. I think flappers is open again. Really?

Matt Neal:

I still love flappers.

John Laforme:

I thinking about going over there. Yeah, I want to I want to go check out some shows because it was a lot of fun. You just get a little food. Less laugh your ass off. Great night out. Really?

Matt Neal:

It's you know, it's that's what I was saying. I started the podcast because I missed it. I had that every month. A lot. Like laughing belly laughing Yeah. For 90 minutes is good for you. Yes. So I would have that plus the hang out with comics laughing more like till like, late at night just like just cracking up making each other laugh. Like, it's like, man, that's good for you. You know,

John Laforme:

you've seen Have you seen? You know Joe Rogan's shows? Right? Have you seen his comedy and stuff like that? Yeah, very much. So yeah, I used to live next to him in Bell Canyon. So really, we used to visit once in a while.

Matt Neal:

So Joe, is when I started becoming when I started in comedy. Yeah. I always loved comedy since I was a little kid. But I never really entertained the notion that I would go do it. But like professionally, for work. I gave keynote speeches and I would talk at all kinds of conferences and stuff like that. So I'm used to talking in front of people. Plus, I was a musician. I played in front of people. I didn't have stage fright. I had no like, I didn't give a shit about that part. But like the joke part, the comedy thing. I just, I guess I just never thought it was what regular people did. Like it was something I listened to, you know, like, I aspired and I loved it. Always. I would repeat, I would listen to records over and over again. I memorize them. I could I could imitate them. I love comedy. But um, I started listening to Joe's podcast back when he was at his house with just him in red band shooting the shit like 10 years ago, 1112 years ago. Yeah. But I know he's still back and he's still in LA, then. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. A long, long time ago. He was in Colorado. Otto for a part of that time, too, so he was in LA then he went to Colorado and back to LA. So I love Joe and I thought he was great. And he was having these things out in Pasadena. Every Wednesday night at the Ice House, they would have like Joe and friends in the little side room at the at the Ice House, which was like 75 person room. Yeah, never been there. And so I would go every week because it was at like 10 o'clock at night. So like, kids would be asleep. I wasn't bothering anybody. I'd be like, I'll go to the Late Show and it go like 10 to one right in the morning. But like, man, it was great. Like I saw some amazing comments because his buddies were like Tom Segura, Duncan Trussell, Joey Diaz, like, yeah, like Joey Diaz, from jujitsu to all these amazing comics. So I got to see them in this little room. And then it grew. And it went over to the bigger room and, but I was still going and I went, I basically studied it, like for like a year. And it was always Joe. So I saw Joe craft is our right and so he was very nice and very, like he met everybody and talk to people and because I was nice guy, because I was there every week. I'm not friends with Joe, but like, he was like, Hey, you, you're here every week. Like, you know what I mean? That was the relationship. Hey, man, what's up your knuckles? You know what I mean? And so, one day after about almost a year of watching him craft his our Tony Hinchcliffe to there was a Doug. Doug Goddamnit, Doug Stanhope, oh my god. So funny. So many great, great comics, but like, so, one day after watching this and watching him craft the hours, like, I really think I want to try it. Like I think I understand it differently than I ever did before. Like, I'd watch him go from a line to a five minute story to a 15 minute story. And I watched it grow. It's like I watched the ACT developed. I watched him build an hour. And I was like, Oh, that's so cool. You know what I mean? Like, I was never sick of hearing it. I knew what was coming by the end of that year. Like I knew his act. And it was still great every time I was like, That's fucking brilliant. That I've seen this, right, what, 45 times 40 times. And I still think it's great. Like, and I hear the nuance of what he changed to make it better. I'm like, That's fucking great. So one night, I was like, Joe, man. I'm thinking to just try it. He's like, you're not dead. It's fucking great. Try it. Yeah. And I was like,

John Laforme:

that's good. All right, inspirational. That's good. And supportive, very supportive. Just the best

Matt Neal:

dude. And he was right. I love it. But funny story about him, like I said, about his friend. I met him. Nice guy. Hey, you. I recognize your face. Right? That's, that's my relationship with Joe. So then I started to become a comic. And I would do shows, and I would go down to the Comedy Store. And I did comedy. And I was like, I, I guess I'm, I'm a comic now a little bit like a bad and nobody's coming to see me but like, I get it. Right. So then start producing shows. And I would see Joe once in a while, because I stopped going to that show every week because I had my own show to go to. So like, I like I was like, Okay, thank you. I loved it. And I would go back there from time to time. Like, I would see Joe and listening to the podcast and kind of knowing them a little bit. Like, I felt like I had one little bit ability to like, say, hey, you know, I thought of something the other day, like, in my head. I'm like, I know you. Well, motherfucker. I've listened to you for thout talk to regular people for 1000s of hours plus watch you do comedy like so. Long story short, there's this crazy, weird restaurant out out where we live. I can't remember what it's called. Some like some lodge some weird lodging. They always had crazy game meat, like, you could go and they would have an elk. And they would have a moose. And they would have this other crazy thing. And that was their specialty is like they had game wild game was there. That was what that restaurant that's Joe's thing. He loves that totally right. So I'm like, fuck, that's awesome. So as it turns out, I knew somebody who knew somebody who was like very well, who was responsible for wanting to sell that restaurant. Like, like, not actively wanting to sell like, it was a conversation at a party with somebody that I knew that was like, involved and own the restaurant is like, I want to sell that thing. Like I like it was close enough that it wasn't just like I heard it's for sale, right? I literally knew the guy who if somebody was interested, I could put them in touch with right. So I carry this information with me to the Comedy Store one night, Joe had just come off making his his record or recording a special so he's doing new material, which is horrible. Sometimes like it's hard. It's hard. I can imagine. I know it's hard. And I saw Joe. Now I know why it went down this way but it's something that still haunts me. So like, he had, I think, just come off stage after like, you know, he was still funny, but like, I'd seen him destroy. And I knew this was new material I watched. This was like three or four years later. So I was like, Oh, I knew he just made a special. I knew that this was all new. And I watched him be like, you know, so. So he came off stage. And, like, at that point, like I said, You don't ever never know what people are thinking or what they think. Right? Right. So maybe he forgot, I hope you forgot. But like, I loaded with my head. Hey, Joe is my friend. he'll appreciate that I could hook him up with the guy who better to own that restaurant than Joe Rogan was my thought. Right, right. Like I didn't put together like people probably approach that dude. Even then. For schemes and shit all the time. Yeah. Right. He didn't see me perform. He didn't know I was a comic. He probably didn't remember me. I'm like Joe foof. new material. Right, buddy? You know, like, he's like, Oh, Jesus. And I'm like, Joe, you know that place that that restaurant? I forget the name of it. But large place. He was fairly famous. And I know he lived out like Calabasas way. Yeah. So I'm sure he knew of it. So I was like, you know that, that place? I was like, you ever would like think about buying shit like that. Like, I know the guy that wants to sell it. And he was like, so just like, for fuck sake. Like, dude, I want to talk about business. Like, it was such a shit interaction. That was like my last interaction with them turned him off. And I was like, God damn it. Now. I'm that guy. Like, ah, you know what I mean? And I was just like, shit, because I had the best intentions. Like, I know you'd love this restaurant, Joe. Yeah, like, you love food. You love game meat? It's it's five minutes from your house. Yeah. Like how dope you know. Yeah. But that was my little like, Ooh, this is my it's this place is weird. Yeah. Like the shit that you think in this business is so weird. And the people you meet, but he was a sweetie. He was a good dude. Yeah, that'd be for success.

John Laforme:

So here's a good story of how nice of a guy he is. You know, we were both living in Belkin and not too far from each other a quarter mile away. Yeah. And, and I happened to drive by his house. He was outside and he said hi to him. Hey, what's going on? He was nothing. He goes, What are you up to? I saw I just got some I got some fence contractors coming over my house today. Because I had an acre of land. Yeah. And I wanted all fenced in with horse fencing. Yeah, white vinyl. Yeah. He goes, dude, just come take mine. Mike, what do you mean take yours? He was I'm about to have it all taken down. Because I'm about to put up wrought iron because my dog can jump through the white stuff. Oh, wow. I'm like, No way. So how much you need for it? Don't worry about it. Because I'll have my guy stock it up a stack it up. Nice. Neat for you. Just come get I'll let you know when it's ready. He gave That's dope. He gave me half of the fencing I needed. Wow. Because I had my my property line. It might have been a little longer in his in the back. Yeah. So I was like, Oh, that's cool. I was like, okay, so I got the fence. I said, shit, me and I was like, really blown away. But yeah, it was probably 10 grand worth of fence.

Matt Neal:

He's taken. Yeah, like, Dude, he's doing. He's moving. Thanks, Joe. If you're out there, he's moved to medium. Like, like, it's incredible. You know, you don't have to agree with everything he does, or people he talks to. But at least like in my mind, I'm like, either he is the best actor on the planet. Who can put this person on? All the time? Well, that's just who That dude is. Because I've listened and watched so many hours of him talking. Yeah. That I'm just like, Well, he'll figure it out. If he fucks up, he'll be like, Hey, I fucked up. Yeah, like, that's all we want from everybody, I think is just like, irresponsible on it. Dude, I fucked up or I didn't fuck up. And here's why. It's like, okay.

John Laforme:

You brought me a book. Yeah. What's this about?

Matt Neal:

It's a pretty interesting book. Stuart Brand is like a, it's one of my favorite books. It's about thinking long term, the clock of the long now the clock of the long now. And it's about long term thinking. And it's it's like this thought experiment that these brilliant dudes had. People had to like, if you had to build a clock that would last 10,000 years. What would you build it out of? Right? How would you make a clock that will last 10,000 years if people only live 100? On average, right? What do you make it out of where do you put it? How do you tell people how to wind it? What do you do for replacement parts? Like literally a thought experiment of just like yeah, well, fuck, I don't know. That's a big task. How do you what if, what if, what if it breaks? You know, like, it was just the idea of like, it was just just a beautiful thought experiment and it creates This idea of long term thinking of like, I gotta leave something behind in the language that people would understand what's good for that, like, where do you put it? Where do you put it's a big one, like, leave it? How do you How will people know it's there? Just Twitter. So many, so many thought experiment, like really neat things come out of that, that book and I just it. It changed the way. It changed the way I thought about a lot of things. Honestly, yeah, yeah. It's a good one.

John Laforme:

You know, learning from people. You know, life lessons. Yeah. Just learn from people just interacting with people meet new people. It's priceless. You know, I tell younger people all the time. I keep forgetting. I'm aging myself again. I just turned 56. All right. So I'm getting up there. So you know, anybody comes to me for advice? I've always been if people give if I know what I'm talking about. Yeah. I never tried to be someone I'm not and that's something a lot of people struggle with. That they try to make believe they know everything. No, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about it?

Matt Neal:

It's hard gelling? Or does it? Galleon Kruger? Yeah. effect. Like,

John Laforme:

it's like, Dude, it's a little ridiculous on time, but you know. Learn listen to other people. Open your mind when you're young. It's hard to do that. And I think a lot of people I had a hard time with that. When I was younger. It's like,

Matt Neal:

it's like Taylor Swift said, yeah. How can you know everything at 18 and nothing at 22?

John Laforme:

I didn't hear a word for it. But uh, anyway, man, I think I think that's a good wrap here. Thanks for having me. Man. This is fun. So once again, Matt Neal. Not nail Matt. No. I get that a lot. First names. And I like I like what you like what you had on your podcast. On your description? That has been writer? Yeah. Also writer and a musician and a comedian. Yeah, that's great stuff. So yeah. Thanks for coming on. I'd love to be on your show someday. Yeah, I think that'd be cool. Let's do it. We could chop it up on something else. Yeah, I'm sure we have a good topic there. And a little shout out to Guitar ninjas calm.

Matt Neal:

If I was guitar ninjas do

John Laforme:

what the turn ninjas is as name of the school. Okay.

Matt Neal:

It's a you become a ninja of guitar,

John Laforme:

music school. It's for kids. It's for adults. And to get an online online program as well to get location in Burbank in orange. And you can do online courses if you want. It's pretty cool. Nice. And if you stick a plain air guitar or air drums, like you know that that's how I get into this. I was tired of playing air guitar. I really wanted to learn how to play some DC. Yeah. And one day I was run by Sam ash and said fuck it, went in there bought a guitar and had lessons the next day. Yeah. And he was the first person I called Nice. He's amazing. Guitarist Jason Jason land guitar ninjas calm are ninjas. Neil, thank you. Thanks for having me. You're great conversation. Thank you, sir. I hope to see some of your comedy soon. Yeah,

Matt Neal:

absolutely. All right, take care of you well.

John Laforme:

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